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Leatherwork

Hungarian leatherworkers fashion leather into footwear, harnesses, and saddles. Especially elaborate designs are used for saddles and riding gear. Horse wranglers (csikós) use a lasso-like rope (pányva) to separate a horse from the herd. The most famous tool of the trade is the karikásostor, a whip woven of leather strings, which crackles as the wranglers work among herds of untamed animals. This instrument has remained a symbol of prowess and skill to this day.

Horse wranglers (csikós) were rarely without a leather whip in hand. Image courtesy of Lili Tizenöt